Steve Barton

The Suffolk Accident Rescue Service charity (SARS) saw an increase in its fundraising income in 2013-14.

SARS, which receives no statutory funding, received over £61,000 in voluntary grants and donations which represented the charity’s highest fundraising total for 10 years.

SARS chairman Dr Pam Chrispin expressed her thanks to all the supporters of the charity: “The last year has been fantastic and we are really grateful for the support we’ve received from all sectors of the community – donations from local businesses, individuals, parish councils and local groups have all contributed to this excellent total.

“This increase in fundraising income has meant that we have been able to invest heavily in new specialist medical equipment for all our volunteer doctors and paramedics.

“SARS has helped thousands of local people since we formed back in 1972 and we remain dedicated to doing whatever we can to ensure that critically ill people get the best possible pre-hospital care in our area.”

SARS, whose doctors and paramedics offer their skills and expertise without charge, has ambitious plans for the next 12 months and hopes the local community will be willing to continue to dig deep to help fund its increased activity.

SARS Fundraising Manager, Ben Hall explained: “We’ve set a fundraising total this year for £100,000.

“This will allow us to expand our activity by recruiting new volunteer doctors and paramedics.

“It will also help cover the costs of a trial we are keen to run from September when we will mobilise a fully equipped rapid response vehicle staffed voluntarily by a SARS doctor/paramedic team in key areas of Suffolk during peak periods.

“There will always be some emergencies where patients can benefit from the enhanced medical skills that SARS volunteers can provide, if we can secure the funding which ensures that we can reach as many of those patients as possible, then that can only be a good thing.”

To find out different ways you can donate to support SARS please visit the charity’s website www.sars999.org.uk